India is great Mera Bharat Mahan.!

India is great

Mera Bharat Mahan.!

1) According to The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) the number of undernourished people is the

highest in India heading over 212 million people.

2) According to the Planning Commission of India 27.5% of Indian population is living below poverty line in 2004-2005

3) Half the world's reported cases of polio, a crippling disease virtually wiped out in Western countries, occur in India

4) Diarrhea kills 500,000 Indian children every year.

5) India has a serious water, air & sound pollution rise.

Looking at the surveys, statistics & research on problems in India one thinks India has great problems.

A famous Vastu Shastra expert said that as India is surrounded by 3 sides from water that is why there are many

problems in INDIA! Then what is so great about India? Why great saints in the past have glorified, birth in India?

It is the culture, found in India that makes it great. Culture is defined as a favorable environment for a process to achieve certain goal.

Culture has 3 things 1) goal 2) process 3) favorable environment.

The vedic culture which prevails in India for thousands of years provide the favorable environment & explains the process to achieve the goal.

In India we find so many temples where gods are worshipped eg: Jaganath Puri temple in Puri, Lord Venkatesh temple in Tirupati.

Every Indian village has a temple.

There are holy place where the pastimes of Lord took placed like Vrindavan, Ayodha, Mayapur, Kurukshetra.

There are the inexhaustible literature describing moral ethics, philosophy & pastimes of lord like Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimad Bhagavad Gita,

Ramayan, Mahabharat.

India is land where many saints have lived like Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Vallabhacarya, Tukaram maharaj, Ramanujacarya, Madhavacarya, Sant Kabir, Sant Gurunanak.

In every home of India the families do prayer, diety worship, chanting lords holy name, reading Holy Scriptures, rituals described in the Vedas.Traditions & teachings are been carried by father to son & grandson.

Indian cultures constitute the above all things .The temples, holy places, scriptures, saints’ act as favorable environment. While the traditions coming

In families like diety worship, rituals, chanting holy names, reading scriptures are an inherent process that all Indians are following.

But what is the goal of such a nice culture?? The Indians youth ask why to follow the old traditions & the ancient scriptures. ?

That seems to be unknown to a lot of Indians & has caused Indians neglecting & giving up this rich culture.

The goal of such a culture is explained in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita (15.15)

Chapter 15

text 15

sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto

mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca

vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo

vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham

Translation

I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance,

knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas I am to be known; indeed

I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.

Here Lord Krishna is saying that the whole vedic culture & knowledge has a goal that is to know him.

Who is Krishna? .Krishna is the Supreme personality of Godhead isvarah paramah krsnah Bramha samhita 5.1.

The living entity keeps changing body & gets new set of senses for fulfilling his desires for enjoyment in the material world.

But the nature of this material world & material senses is limited so he gets frustrated in his attempts. In the human form of life he gets an opportunity

To know about Krishna through the vedic culture. In all Vedic literature, beginning from the four Vedas, Vedanta-sutra

and the Upanisads and Puranas, the glories of the Supreme Lord are celebrated. By performing Vedic rituals, discussing the Vedic

philosophy and worshiping the Lord in devotional service, Supreme Lord Krishna is attained. Therefore the purpose of the Vedas is to understand Krishna.

The Vedas give the right direction to the people so that they can properly mold their lives and come back to Godhead, back to home.

By worshiping Krishna one gets out of the cycle of birth & death as confirmed in Gita (4.9)

Chapter 4

TEXT 9

janma karma ca me divyam

evam yo vetti tattvatah

tyaktva deham punar janma

naiti mam eti so 'rjuna

TRANSLATION

One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities

does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material

world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.

Such is the aim of vedic culture to achieve the highest goal in life ie the Spiritual World.

The vedic culture not only provides spiritual goal but also teaches to live in harmony with material nature & humanity.

After knowing that this whole world belongs to Krishna (god) one doesnot enjoy greedily the material nature but only consumes

The quota he requires. It brings about divine qualities in man & he then loves each & every living entity in this world seeing them as his brother ie son of the same god.

Thus the vedic culture give a wholly solution. Proper understanding & preservation of this culture is needed to save this world from great danger like global warming, exploitation of resources.

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupad the founder acarya of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) brought this vedic culture to the west

He presented this culture in a non-sectarian way & now millions of western people are benefited by the vedic knowledge & culture.

It is this Vedic culture which makes India Great & it is the duty of every Indian to preserve & spread this culture for the benefit of the whole humanity.

Temple ......... an embassy of the Spiritual World

This Janamastami a thought came to my mind that

Temple is Embassy of the Spiritual World

Like when i walked in the US embassy/consulate in India ,The interior ,procedures ,posters ,voice ,attitude,peoples, wear ,food,music everything looked like we are in US . Even the TV was showing US news & US newspapers were avaliable

It just felt like entering US

Similarly it was checked/verified in the consulate whether the person is fit , qualified to enter USA.

A Temple is also an embassy of the spiritual world where the interior,posters displays Krishnas eternal pastimes,

People wear clothes like that in the Spiritual World ,

Songs from spiritual world are always sung like hare krishna maha mantra

news from the spiritual world are discussed like Srimad bhagavatam

food is prasadam as in the spiritual world

spiritual music is going on

Everything is like the Spiritual World

It is this place where a persons qualification to enter the spiritual World is verified

by diety worship it is determined .............can he worship Krishna & Radharani in the spiritual world??

by cooking , chanting ,serving devotees his attitude is seen whether been compatible to the spiritual world

Is he interested in the news of the spiritual world ?? how much eager he is to enter the spiritual world ?

What is his background ? which sampradaya does he belong to?? is he properly trained ??

or else he may be simply a disturbance in the spiritual world

Then & then only can he enter the spiritual world.!!

So i felt that if one wants to enter the spiritual world

he has to show his eagerness

--by following the procedures,process,regulative principles of devotional life

-- by eager to hear & chant the glories to the Lord

-- by doing graceful & careful diety worship

-- eager to hear Srimad Bhagavatam

-- Serving & associating with devotees

-- chanting the holy name of Lord

-- visiting the holy places

All these activities makes one qualify to

" Never forget Krishna & always remember Krishna"

& enter the spiritual world

Thus i felt one shud not complain of the process also as this is voluntary

He want to go to the spiritual world so we have to accept the process

Yes we may have difficulties but prayer is the way to express this difficulty.

Thought of the day, August 17, 2009

bkgoswami.com

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Humility does not mean to always be depressed. There is a difference between humility and depression... Real humility does not mean to think less of yourself, but to think of yourself less. That means - do not think of yourself so much, bad or good. Just think of yourself as a servant of Krishna and think of yourself as really tiny, one ten thousand of the tip of the hair, always dependent on the mercy of the Supreme Lord for everything. That is humility.

(From Srila Gurudeva's lecture on Rupa Goswami, New Goloka, August 2, 2009)

www.bkgoswami.com

ISKCON of NC | 1032 Dimmocks Mill Rd. | Hillsborough | NC | 27278

LSD effects vs 8 ecstatic symptoms

The above picture shows the effects of LSD ---- like fever,clenching,tremors,increased heart rate, pespirations

dialtions

These symptoms are externally imposed on oneself . They are forced .They having nothing to do with Heart.

They are not triggered by heart but by some matter.

People are always finding how to get the estactic symptoms & LSD is one medium where there try to externally get it & feel it for some time & go HIGH for sometime & then AGain come Down.

Because these estacties are not real but imposed artificially they give no real pleasure or satisfaction.

Instead they become the cause of trouble & invite more miseries & moreover make one much more frustated than before.

Srila Prabhupad explains that when a girl who is desperate to become a mother may sometime become crazy & make noise & cry like one been pregnant but that is simply a disturbance .

Similarly this LSD is simply a disturbance to the society.

Every soul knows about this ecstatic symptoms but because encaged in body & bodily conciousness

it is looking for pleasure outside his self & attempting disgusting LSD experiments.

Srila Prabhupad explains below how one can get the real ecstatic symptoms below:

In the beginning, there may not be the presence of all transcendental ecstasies, which are eight in number. There are:

1) Being stopped as though dumb,

2) perspiration,

3) standing up of hairs on the body,

4) dislocation of voice,

5) trembling,

6) fading of the body,

7)crying in ecstasy, and

8) trance.

But there is no doubt that chanting for a while takes one immediately to the spiritual platform and one shows the first symptom of this in the urge to dance along with the chanting of the mantra. We have seen this practically. Even a child can take part in the chanting and dancing. Of course, for one who is too entangled in material life, it takes a little more time to come to the standard point, but even such a materially engrossed man is raised to the spiritual platform very quickly. When it is chanted by a pure devotee of the Lord in love, it has the greatest efficacy on hearers, and as such this chanting should be heard from the lips of a pure devotee of the Lord, so that immediate effects can be achieved. As far as possible, chanting from the lips of nondevotees should be avoided. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects.

- From Krsna Consciousness, The Topmost Yoga System, Chapter 6: The Hare Krsna Mantra, Para 4

Chant

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare

and make your life sublime

Cocain --- Love

Nowadays in science they analyze what happens when you have the attraction between a man and a woman and it is basically the same as when one takes cocain. They have done brain scans for the men and for the women and the brain scans came out excately the same as for one who is snorting cocain. So, obviously, when one is snorting cocain, one's judgement is severely impaired. So, when you are in love, your judgement is severely impaired.
(from Srila Gurudeva's lecture on 'Controlling senses', Croatia, July 24, 2009)

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Krishnas Triumphant glory

All are simply trying to imitate the sweet pastimes of The Lord

whether his pastimes be of loving affairs with gopis or wives in dwarka or be his heroic feats in

war or be his sweet dealings with gopas & friends or be his vast knowlegde exhibition or be his dance or song or be his beauty or be his walk or talk or simply his look or be his enchanting smile

Everyone is simply trying to imitate these wonderful qualities of The Lord

They make movies stories novels etc imagining a Hero a Heroine a Villian a friend etc

they perform herioc acts by using stunt man or special effects

they sing by making a playback singer sing from behind

they dress beautiful with lot of cosmetics to hide their age & real face

They take us to Virtual world & at the end it is frustating simply because it is not real

We are all looking for REAL pleasure real hero & Lord Krishnas glories triumphantly dominates the mundane love ......... as explained below in Bramha Samhita text 42

http://vedabase.net/bs/5/42/en

ānanda-cinmaya-rasātmatayā manaḥsu

yaḥ prāṇināḿ pratiphalan smaratām upetya

līlāyitena bhuvanāni jayaty ajasram-

govindam ādi-puruṣaḿ tam ahaḿ bhajāmi

TRANSLATION

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose glory ever triumphantly dominates the mundane world by the activity of His own pastimes, being reflected in the mind of recollecting souls as the transcendental entity of ever-blissful cognitive rasa.

PURPORT

Those who constantly recollect in accordance with spiritual instructions the name, figure, attributes and pastimes of the form of Kṛṣṇa appearing in the amorous rasa, whose loveliness vanquishes the god of mundane love, conqueror of all mundane hearts, are alone meditators of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, who is full of pastimes, always manifests Himself with His realm only in the pure receptive cognition of such persons. The pastimes of that manifested divine realm triumphantly dominates in every way all the majesty and beauty of the mundane world.

We have to simply follow in the footsteps of recollecting souls ie those great souls who are remembering his pastimes always ....taking pleaure in hearing his glories in Srimad Bhagavatam

................... In other words as i say to myself "Please read Krishna Book again & again""

Meaning of Surrender

I heard

Surrender means to GIVE

There is always an understanding that Surrender means to GIVE UP

BUt actually Surrenders means to GIVE oneself to LORD

When one submits to Lord fully that is surrender

Then he has nothing to worry or Fear because the lord will take care of him.

http://vedabase.net/sb/7/5/23/en2

(9) Atma-nivedanam. The word Atma-nivedanam refers to the stage at which one who has no motive other than to serve the Lord surrenders everything to the Lord and performs his activities only to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a devotee is like a cow that is cared for by its master. When cared for by its master, a cow is not in anxiety over its maintenance. Such a cow is always devoted to its master, and it never acts independently, but only for the master's benefit. Some devotees, therefore, consider dedication of the body to the Lord to be atma-nivedanam, and as stated in the book known as Bhakti-viveka, sometimes dedication of the soul to the Lord is called atma-nivedanam. The best examples of atma-nivedanamare found in Bali Maharaja and Ambarisa Maharaja.

Atma-nivedanam is also sometimes found in the behavior of Rukminidevi atDvaraka.

GUILT feeling

Guilt feeling

--- a practising devotee feels guilt when he does sense gratification & he knows that would impede his KCON & it won't give him pleasure but out of deep conditioning he does it anyway

---- But this feeling if Guilt in an emotional devotee takes him/her to extremes -- that is to think one self unworthy & fallen & USELESS.!!!

I cannot do anything

I am useless

Then a devotee becomes morose & loses enthusiasm for devotional service

i heard a wonderful explanation of how to handle GULIT ?

"Guilt feeling is good because we know that we accept that we did something which would impede our KCON

But it should not be for SO long that it takes our TIME for service "

Some may feel guilty then sad then lonely then useless & pass many hours in this feeling

which is simply concentration on oneself & thus is false-ego only.

Instead this time could be utilised for increasing service & chanting more & praying & begging from the Lord .

This is how one should handle his guilt by getting back to present & increasing his service to Lord Krishna

Prabhupad said that by constant engagement in KCON services & constant chanting of Holy name one would never fall down.

SFO & LA Rath yatra 2009 --- memories

Chanting Dancing & Feasting

Chanting Dancing & Feasting

Chanting Dancing & Feasting

Chanting Dancing & Feasting

Chanting Dancing & Feasting

These are the only words with which i describe What is Rath Yatra !!

2 rath yatras back 2 back

& my heart says " MOREEEEEEEEE"

It was satisfying & heart rendering to be there at the rath yatra , pull the cart , loudly chant the holy name,dance with no shy, approach people & distribute the book , meet devotees & share your love & realizations , hear the constant sound vibration & experience the Vaikuntha atmosphere.

SFO Rath Yatra :

I went by Caltrain to SFO. ........got on a bus to reach Golden gate Park

We at ISV had taken the responsibility of BOOK Distribution at rath yatra.

Each one of us got a bag full of book packets containing a small book, jaganath smiling sticker,festival invitation flier

& a lollipop prasad!!!!!!!!!! :)

People were jogging,walking,talking, having their picnic , sitting resting & i was running with the bag handing out the book packets .

Some were happy to receive , some were skeptic , some said NO, some took it as a ritual.....

I thought of stopping the jogging people but they were not interested to stop

So I would run with them & hand them packet or lollipop prasad.

One fellow asked me what is this featival all about!

I said it is a journey to invite the Lord in our heart

I just thought.......... If Prabhupad had not taken the risk of preaching..........

I would just be one of the people in the park jogging,walking,talking & wandering all around the 14 planetary systems for want of some permanent pleasure.

Thank you Prabhupad for saving me & making me stand out from the herd for a permanent,satisfying Goal in Life.

LA Rath Yatra :

Another Huge Rath Yatra ........

The day before rath yatra i was doing service in the Kitchen --- peeling potatoes,cutting them in cubes,frying chips & packing them in Bags.

about 40000 people were expected........ So prasadam preparation had started a week ago

with tons of pasta,sweet ,chips etc. been prepared.

ISV had taken services of cooking headed by Nirkula Mataji &

book distrubution headed by Vaisesika pr

A husband & wife combination serving the movement together------- This is what Prabhupad had visioned how his grihastha disciples should be------- a missionary householders.!!!

"Our philosophy at ISV is Each doing a little bit " --- HG Vaisesika Pr

many devotees were doing services & adding their little bit contribution.

As in Ramayana every animal whether a huge monkey , bird,squirrel or an ant each doing a little BIT.

Then i understood that for the Lord of the universe making prasadam , arranging for his ride etc is not a Great task but simply to keep his devotees engaged & accept reciprocation & love from them he puts the whole responsibility of his ride on devotees.

& the devotees are happy simply to serve the Lord without any reward

But do you think that there is no reciprocation from the Lord for such a nice service?

There is a satisfying Feeling in ones heart that Lord provides from Within & that is something which cannot be explained in words

""""""The proof of the Pudding is in the Eating""""""

We had 5000 book packets to distribute & we were core 5-6 devotees to delegate to devotees & do it ourselves.

As usual i was overwhelmed "How we would do it ?"

but as the first rule goes " Get books"

we got the books on to the cart & had made many bags of 21 packs each.

i felt relieved when many Devotees took bags .

But we had 3 big boxes full of book packets & they were for refilling the empty bags during rath yatra.

2 were put on Jaganath Cart & one on Subhadras

There were 100s of kuli devotees & they were doing huge ecstatic kirtan at Jaganath Rath Yatra.

People were dancing, waving hands,smiles all over , some were trying to repeat the mahamantra ------everything looked like a very colourful transcendental parade.

As the rath yatra was approaching Venice street we had to start massive refilling & empty the boxes.

So i stood at Jaganath Rath yatra & there devotees with their empty bags started coming

My ears heard these "fill them up --- haribol fill it to full --- I am doing book distribution for last 20 yrs it is so nice ---can i get one -----"

My hands filled them

& my heart was happy to see the empty HUGE box.

All 5000 books distributed

Vaisesika Pr said " we will do 10000 next year"

again i became overwhelmed my heart sank in the sand of venice beach with the Load

I said " we need the whole ISV team to do it !!!"

But thats what is service all about ---- never ending always expanding & moreover putting tremendous anxiousness on Devotees

OhhhH How will it be DONE?

That anxiousness is the ultimate KCON.------

To be anxious for Krishnas service ---- thats we have to become

The peace of no work , the bramhajyoti, is NOT our goal !!!

As explained by Prabhupad below from Transcendental diary vol 1

April 26th, 1976

From 6:30 A.M. to 7:30 A.M.

Prabhupäda took his morning walk around the Botanical Gardens. As we walked along the outer perimeter, Cittahäré däsa asked if a devotee is always unhappy to see others suffering.

"Yes," Prabhupäda replied, "this is Kåñëa anxiety. This kind of anxiety is welcome." He explained that in the material world people are in anxiety to get money and sex, but in the spiritual realm, the anxiety is to get Kåñëa. The anxiety is there, but the quality is different.

Cittahäré inquired further, "If we're in anxiety that we cannot perform devotional service nicely, that is all right?"

Prabhupäda explained that it is not so easy to become anxious for Kåñëa—one can get such anxiety only after many, many millions of lives of pious activities. If one becomes full of anxiety for Kåñëa, that is the highest stage of perfection. He said that this stage cannot be imitated; however, by following the regulative principles one gradually comes to this platform.

Cittahäré asked, "If one is in anxiety because he has a falling down from following the regulative principles, is that material anxiety?"

Çréla Prabhupäda said yes, anxiety for oneself is material, whereas anxiety for Kåñëa is spiritual. Smiling, he quoted Rüpa Gosvämé, who said that if one can purchase anxiety for Kåñëa one must do it at any price. But the price, he said ironically, is that one must be in anxiety to have it; that anxiety is not available even after millions of births of pious activities.

"So if we're performing the Deity worship and we get in anxiety, how to make it nice?" Cittahäré asked.

"Yes, that is Kåñëa anxiety," Çréla Prabhupäda said. "If you become anxious how to worship Deity, how to dress Kåñëa nicely, that will develop your anxiety for Kåñëa. Therefore Deity worship is essential. Exactly in time to get up, to offer maìgala-ärati, to dress—this anxiety is the beginning of Kåñëa anxiety. Then, when you become perfect, you'll always be anxious for Kåñëa. And that is perfectional stage. Therefore, by the injunction of the çästra, regulative, it is a way of creating that anxiety. So we must follow. Then we'll come to the real anxiety."

Another devotee asked if being in anxiety about whether he is distributing a lot of books or not is spiritual.

Again Prabhupäda gave his confirmation. "For selling books anxiety is Kåñëa anxiety. If you become very anxious how to sell more books, that is Kåñëa anxiety. That is not trade anxiety; that is Kåñëa anxiety."

Gurukåpa Mahäräja took advantage of the conversation to clear up a managerial point. "Some people say that 'When I go on saìkértana to sell books I become in too much anxiety if I'm not doing well, so I'd rather not do it.'"

But Prabhupäda replied, "No, that is Kåñëa anxiety. He does not know. Let him know that that is Kåñëa anxiety. Mother Yaçodä became mother of Kåñëa so that she would always remain in anxiety for Kåñëa; whether Kåñëa is safe. That is mother's anxiety. Therefore she became mother. How to become in Kåñëa anxiety? This philosophy nobody knows. Everyone takes Kåñëa as the father. Father means I'm anxiety-less: 'Father, you supply my wants.' And to become father of Kåñëa means to purchase anxiety for Kåñëa. This philosophy they do not know."

Prabhupäda said that mother Yaçodä is in constant anxiety for Kåñëa, wondering if He is safe, if some monkey is bothering Him, or if some demon is threatening. It is a transcendental irony that only the devotees can understand. The Mäyävädés want çänti, peace, but they cannot become anxiety-less. The anxiety should be purified from material contamination, and it should be only for Kåñëa.

Photos here

Photos here